FITCHBURG -- City councilors are questioning the hiring process used by Mayor Lisa Wong in appointing the city's new economic-development director, a position brought back by the council last year.

In a recent email sent to his fellow councilors, Councilor-at-Large Dean Tran outlined several concerns about Wong's hiring of Jerry Beck, former director of marketing and community relations for the Fitchburg Art Museum, in December.

Tran, who entered the successful petition to bring back the economic-development position, said there are still many questions that have been unanswered, including:

n How members of the selection committee were chosen.

n Whether the council president was asked to appoint a liaison to the committee.

n Why the job description wasn't posted on any local or statewide job boards.

n Why the human-resources director was not part of the selection committee.

n The number of résumés received for the position and why more were not sought.

n Why the position was announced as a director or chief marking officer when the council approved it as a manager position..

n Why a three-year contract was put in place when the council asked that the position be funded annually based on performance.

"The economic-development position is very important to the future of Fitchburg," Tran said after Tuesday's meeting. "It was agreed upon by the mayor, and my expectation when we passed it was that there would be transparency between the mayor and the City Council.

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That did not happen at all."

City Solicitor John Barrett has said the position was not subject to council confirmation.

"If the mayor, in the sense of true transparency, wanted to have the council's back on this, she would put this position up for confirmation to the council, whether she can or she can't," Council Vice President Marcus DiNatale said. "That should be irrelevant, because the council pushed the mayor to have this position created."

DiNatale, who did not vote for funding the position because he had concerns about paying for it out of free cash rather than through the budget process, said it's an important position that many councilors felt the need to use free cash for.

He said councilors also asked for a detailed job description, a detailed understanding of performance metrics and how those metrics would be measured, and what specific things the employee would be doing to tackle the issues.

Wong said the title of the position is merely semantics, and she believes the council is confusing the manager level with the level of department head, which must come before them for confirmation.

She said the hiring process for the economic-development director has been more highly scrutinized than that of any other position in the city.

Wong gave the example of the city's information-technology manager, whom she said she appointed "without any résumés, any advertising, any council approval."

She said the city's housing director was hired after an internal posting, the same way in which the economic-development director was hired, and the same as with the housing director position, only two people applied for the economic-development position, she said.

"Here's a position where the person has had more vetting than any other person at his level, yet is getting the most concern," she said.

No matter the length of a signed contract, Wong said, the council could choose to eliminate any position due to funding. "Every position is subject to funding -- every single one," she said.

Council President Stephan Hay referred the matter to a Council as a Whole Committee for further discussion. The date for that meeting is not set.

Tran said he's glad it is being sent to the Council as a Whole, so that any problems in the process and the related ordinance can be fixed.

In other business Tuesday, Fitchburg High School 2004 graduate and former Marine Corps Sgt. Shaun Paul Sicard was appointed and sworn in as a permanent full-time firefighter. Sicard served four years in the Marine Corps, including a seven-month tour of Iraq in 2006.

Fire Chief Kevin Roy said Sicard will attend the fire academy in May and go for EMT training in March.

Councilors thanked Sicard for his service to the country and his interest in serving the city.

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